After losing 4, US swimmer Ryan Lochte gets throat drops endorsement, Usain Bolt signs biggest deal with Nike

Two days after he lost corporate endorsements because of the gas station incident, US swimmer Ryan Lochte found a new endorsement deal. Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops signed the 12-time Olympic medalist for print ads and a television commercial.

Explaining why the manufacturer of cough drops signed Lochte while four of the swimmer’s sponsors dropped him, Rider McDowell, chief executive of Pine Bros, says he wants to give Lochte a second chance. “We all make mistakes, but they’re rarely given front page scrutiny,” Reuters quotes McDowell.

An exaggerated story that he and three other members of the US swim team were robbed at gunpoint at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro cost Lochte the endorsements from Speedo and Ralph Lauren. Jimmy Feigen, one of his three companions, agreed to donate 35,000 real (A$14,200) to a charity in Rio as compensation for dropping of minor misdemeanor charge and the return of his passport confiscated by Rio police.

New York Post reports that Lochte, who left Brazil the day after the incident, would be summoned to give testimony before the Justice Department of Brazil. Since he could not testify in the US, Lochte would need to appear in person in Brazil or be tried in absentia.

Detective Clemente Braune says that while there is no penalty if Lochte fails to appear, he would not be able to engage in a plea deal. The Rio police will finish their investigation this week and send their findings to state prosecutors, which in turn would be sent to the proper federal law enforcement agency in the US and notify the swimmer.

Meanwhile, if Lochte gained one endorsement, Jamaican runner Usain Bolt – who has his own controversy involving having a one-night stand with a 20-year-old Brazilian woman in Rio – was signed by sports brand Nike to a lifetime deal, reports ESPN. It is said to be the biggest single-athlete deal in Nike’s 46-year history wherein the fastest man would earn up to US$30 million (A$39.31 million) yearly.

ESPN says the deal is larger than the 10-year, US$300-million (A$393.1 million) deal signed by Kevin Durant in 2014 with Nike. Bolt would be given his own signature shoe line which he is expected to wear in all his track events, according to SportsOneSource.

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